How Impeachment Works
Let’s Review
Impeachment: charging a government official with a crime.
n. the process by which a legislative body levels charges against a government official. It does not mean removal from office; it is only a statement of charges, akin to an indictment in criminal law.
Impeachment does NOT mean removal from office! It means the president will be CHARGED WITH A CRIME. Then the Senate holds the trial, and if the president is found guilty, he is removed from office.
A government official can be impeached for committing “treason, bribery, or high crimes and misdemeanors.” That last part is based on British law that basically means abusing their power or harm to society, not necessarily committing an ordinary against-the-law crime.
This has happened 3 times before in the history of American presidents.
- Andrew Johnson, 1868. He was being a dick about how things should be handled after the end of the Civil War, kept trying to fire people he didn’t like, so Congress passed an Act that he couldn’t fire people in his cabinet without Senate approval. He fired his Secretary of War anyway, they charged him with breaking the law and some other stuff. The House impeached him, but he was found not guilty in his Senate trial (by one vote).
- Richard Nixon, 1974. The House was already investigating him for Watergate and they were trying to get him to turn over tapes from the White House and he said no, so the Supreme Court ordered him to and he still said no. So they charged him with obstruction of justice, abuse of power, contempt of Congress, and some other stuff. He resigned from office before the House could vote to impeach him.
- Bill Clinton, 1998. After an investigation by a special prosecutor, it was discovered he was having an inappropriate relationship with a White House intern and asked her to lie about it as well as denying the relationship. He was charged with lying under oath and obstruction of justice. The House impeached him, but he was found not guilty by the Senate.
The constitution has very little information about how an impeachment should go, so the few times it’s happened, Congress was basically guessing. The constitution didn’t even really say what high crimes and misdemeanors were, that definition above is just from political scientists theorizing about it. So alot of the procedure that is to come in the impeachment process is just kind of going to be decided as they go along. Hooray!
The Process
1. The House of Representatives votes on impeachment
The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee hears evidence for reasons why the President should be impeached. They vote if they should ask the rest of the House of Representatives, if yes, then the evidence is presented to all 435 representatives. If a majority votes yes, the President is impeached.
The current House of Representatives has 235 democrats, 198 republicans, 1 independent, and 1 vacancy.
2. The Senate holds a trial
The Senate becomes the jury, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is the judge, some House Representatives become the prosecutors, and the President’s lawyers are his defense. The Senate decides how long the trial will be, what evidence to hear, and how and when witnesses will be called. A conviction requires a two-thirds vote for guilty, not just a majority. If the President is found guilty, he is removed from office.
The current Senate has 45 democrats, 53 republicans, and 2 independents.
A few things.
So if the House votes to impeach, the idea is that then the Senate holds the trial. But the Senate majority leader is Mitch McConnell, the guy who just decided not to hold a vote on President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee. So can he just decide not to hold a trial? No one knows. It’s not in the constitution. Can Chief Justice Roberts storm in like the koolaid man and just start a trial?? Impeachments are an inherently political process more than a criminal process, and this could get real political.
The current Senate is a majority Republican, specifically Republicans who have said they support the President, so the likelihood of the President being removed from office right now is low. However, public opinion might shift as more evidence comes out, or depending on how things look, some Republicans might change their stance to bolster their chances at winning re-election in 2020.
The Democratic majority in the House had been hesitant to call for impeachment before, mainly out of concern for the outcome of the 2020 election. Should the party focus on defeating the President in the election rather than removing him from office? If they fail to convict in the Senate, will it help the President’s approval ratings? It seems that the most recent accusations against the President were enough to sway their opinion.
Sources
- How Impeachment Works (CNN, September 25, 2019)
- How the Impeachment Process Works (The New York Times, September 24, 2019)
- What you need to know about the impeachment inquiry into Trump (The Washington Post, September 25, 2019)
- Impeachment in the United States (Wikipedia)